It is generally recognized that whereas construction with brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like provides an attractive masonry surface, such construction can be very expensive and time consuming. Attempts have been made to devise wall covering which give the appearance of brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like, but such coverings rarely produce the natural appearance of brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like and, although less costly than natural brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like, such wall covering can still be quite costly. Further, where less costly masonry, such as concrete, is used, various paints and stains are available for covering or decorating the surface, but the painting or staining of large areas of concrete to give the appearance of brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like is very laborious where conventional methods are used. In this regard, stencils have been used as masking aides to produce complex designs which cover selected areas. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,682,562; 4,125,658; 4,031,268; 3,678,887; 3,667,990; 3,552,987; 3,323,490; 3,225,691; 2,264,628 and 1,937,927 discuss the use of such stencils. However, due to the porous, irregular surface characteristic of most concrete and other masonry the coloring medium tends to bleed or seep under the stencil into areas where colorization is not desired where conventional stenciling methods are used.
Difficulty has also been encountered finding cost efficient methods for recoloring faded brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like incorporated in older structures, or for changing the color of brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like in an existing structure, due to the need to avoid colorization of the mortar gaps. Of course, the painting of individual bricks or tiles is very time consuming, and traditional masking means, such as masking tapes, work poorly given the porous, irregular surface of the mortar.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a masonry stencil for masking a preselected mortar pattern on a masonry surface.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for coloring concrete and other masonry surface to give the surface the appearance of natural brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like construction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for recoloring brick, tile, interlocking pavers, flag stone or the like masonry while maintaining the mortar gaps therebetween in their natural uncolored state.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a masonry stencil which is inexpensive to manufacture, and an associated masonry staining method which is inexpensive to use.